Han Dynasty Food Chinese cuisine has experienced a history of four to five thousand years of development.

It consists of palace dishes, official dishes and various local cuisines of the past dynasties, with the main body being local dishes.

Its superb cooking skills and rich cultural connotations are world-class.

Sun Wen once said: "Paintings that are pleasing to the eye and sounds that are pleasing to the ears are all art, and why is the taste that is pleasing to the mouth not the same? He is a cook, and he is also one of the arts. The art of cooking was born in civilization, and it is not deeply pregnant.

If a civilized race is not good at distinguishing flavors, then its cooking techniques will not be good. "Our country has a vast territory, and the natural conditions, people's living habits, economic and cultural development conditions and historical periods vary from place to place. In terms of food cooking and dish categories, there are differences.

Different local flavors gradually formed.

1. The traditional food culture of Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties. From the Neolithic Age to the Yin and Shang Dynasties, people’s processing of grains has always been relatively primitive and simple.

The ancestors roughly processed the grains through grinding plates, rolling rods, pestles and mortars, etc. It was difficult to provide a large amount of shelled rice to meet the meal needs. They could only eat the grains with the shells. Only a few nobles had the right to enjoy the shelled grains.

In the Zhou Dynasty, the emergence of Shi Qi was a leap forward in the primary processing methods of grains.

Shiqi means stone mill. "Shiben·Zuopian" says: "Gongshu Banzuo Shiqi", the principle is to "combine two stones and cut them into teeth that cut into each other to grind the object."

The primary processing of grains changed from grinding to grinding. With the popularization of stone mills, the diet of Zhou people has been greatly improved.

Compared with grain processing, meat processing in the Zhou Dynasty was more sophisticated, and as a selection of meat for initial processing, it was as important as later cooking.

In particular, the selection and cooking of the various meats enjoyed by the Zhou royal family and nobles during sacrifices and banquets were handled by the specially designated official offices "Inner Cooking" and "Outer Cooking".

According to the "Zhou Li Tianguan Nei Lian" records: "Cows croaking at night are smelly; sheep have cold hair and are glutinous, which means mutton; dogs have red buttocks and are irritable and smelly; birds are ramie-colored and sandy, which means raccoons (rotten smell); hogs are blind.

Eyes crossed when looked at are fishy; horses with black spines and arms are like crickets. "So, what kind of livestock and poultry are suitable for slaughtering and eating? "Book of Rites Nei Principles" records: "The cow is called Yiyuan Dawu, and the pig is called Gangmane.

Dolphins are called Xunfei, sheep are called soft hair, chickens are called Hanyin, dogs are called soup offerings, pheasants are called sparse toes, rabbits are called bright eyes..." It can be seen that Zhou people have fully understood how to choose those who are disease-free, have no special fishy smell and are strong.

livestock and poultry, and identify the various parts of the livestock and poultry, and then slaughter them.

On the one hand, this is for the purpose of dissecting the animal body, and on the other hand, it is also for classifying the meat to facilitate cooking. It also has ceremonial significance. When eating, various dishes have fixed positions, and eating is also done in a certain way.

Procedures are carried out, which are determined by the different shapes the meat is cut into.

In the Zhou Dynasty, there were strict regulations on hierarchy from eating methods to banquets.

The popular bronze eating utensil at that time, the tripod, was a symbol of social status: the king used nine tripods, the ministers used seven tripods, the officials used five tripods, and the scholars used one or three tripods.

The same is true for beans. "Book of Rites·Liyun" records that there are six out of thirty beans for the emperor, six out of ten princes, two out of ten princes, eight for superior officials, and six for inferior officials.

There are strict restrictions on the consumption of food. "Guoyu·Chu Yuxia" contains Guan She's father's saying: "The emperor eats Tailao, cattle, sheep and hogs are all available. The princes eat cattle, the ministers eat sheep, the officials eat hogs, and the scholars eat fish.

, Common people eat vegetables. ""Shang Shu·Hong Fan" states: "Only for blessing, only for power, only for eating jade food." This means that only the monarch can use jade food to achieve power and blessing.

"Book of Rites: Kingship" says: "Princes do not kill cattle without reason, officials do not kill sheep without reason, scholars do not kill dogs and hogs without reason, and common people do not eat delicacies without reason. There were very few cooking methods in the Xia and Shang Dynasties. By the Zhou Dynasty, productivity

With rapid development, cooking methods have become very diverse, including boiling, steaming, roasting, moxibustion, frying, stir-frying, etc. Among them, frying and stir-frying are new cooking methods unearthed after the Zhou Dynasty Bronze Culture entered its heyday.

The utensils are mostly steaming utensils. The cooking method at this time was mainly steaming food. The main cooking utensils used for cooking food at that time were cauldrons, tripods, kettles, etc. According to the literature, the two types of cooking utensils were cauldrons and tripods.

There seems to be a division of labor among the utensils. The cauldron is mainly used for cooking grains or vegetables. For example, "The Book of Songs: Picking Pings" says: "In Yixiang, the Weiji cauldron" is used for cooking meat, because the cauldron no longer existed in the Zhou Dynasty.

It is no longer just a cooking utensil, but has become a ritual vessel, exclusive to nobles at all levels, and regarded as a symbol of power. Common people cannot use copper tripods as cooking utensils, and nobles mainly use copper tripods.

It is used to hold meat and other precious foods. For example, "Zhou Li, Tianguan, Cooking People" says: "The pot is held in the palm of the hand to bring water and fire together.

"Zheng Xuan's note: "The wok is a vessel for cooking meat and fish cured meat. It is both cooked and served in a tripod.

"Li is generally used to cook porridge. It was produced in the Yin Dynasty, developed in the middle of the Zhou Dynasty, declined on the weekends, and disappeared in the Han Dynasty. Nobles used tripods to prepare meals, while Li was used for regular cooking. Steaming is an advanced method of cooking using steam. my country is the first country in the world to use steam cooking. The steaming utensils of the Zhou Dynasty separate the food from the water, so that even if the water is boiled, it will not touch the food, so that all the nutritional value of the food is retained. With the development of productivity, the variety of food continues to increase, and various cooking utensils are invented one after another. It is logical that newer and more advanced cooking methods emerge, such as stir-frying, frying, stewing, simmering, braising, and boiling. Methods of pickling dishes such as bacon, glutinous rice, and preserved vegetables have laid the foundation for the development of Chinese cooking techniques.